Samuel Augustine

Samuel Augustine,

This is the name your father and I have chosen for you. I hope you like it. I remember being very young and wishing my name was something other than 'Kaleigh'. Especially my middle name...'Marie'. The middle name every other girl born in the 1990s was given. And I never liked that my name was after family I didn't know or like. There was no great story behind my name, and I've never been very partial to my last name 'Powell' either. But I hope it's different for you. 'Samuel' was something thought of by Dad and I, but separately.

'Sam' is the name of a young, mature, and precocious Wes Anderson character in the film Moonrise Kingdom. A movie your father and I enjoy. And it's always been a name that I've admired. It's simple but strong. Samuel.

Dad mentioned it to me one day in between my various listings of names I liked but wasn't sure about ("Alexander? Rowen? Fox? Henry?"). "How about Samuel?" he asked. 'Samuel' wasn't on my list but some variation of 'Sam' was ("Samson?"). I was excited that we finally agreed on a name we both liked. We tested it over the next two weeks and quietly decided it was right.

Your middle name was easier. Your father listed various mythological characters, gods, ancient roman rulers and warriors. You know...the usual. I was all for an interesting middle name but...just not 'Achilles'.
"I like 'Augustine'. Like the saint." he said and I immediately adored it. We had happy memories in Saint Augustine last summer and I considered the trip to be the best in my life thus far. We let the name sit for a few days, but I knew it was what we were looking for.

Maybe this isn't some great story, but I hope you know that choosing your name was done so out of love. And I do hope you like it. I don't know what you're going to be like or what sorts of things you'll do in life, but I hope that you make your name your own. And be thankful we didn't name you "Jaxon" or something rhyming with "Aiden". Because I guarantee you'll know a lot of those growing up.

I love you, Samuel Augustine. My peanut.

All my love,
Mama